The 2020 Game Awards have come and gone! As time has gone on these awards have become more and more focused on the trailers that take place during the awards show rather than the awards themselves. Especially in a year like 2020 where the biggest showcase event of the year, E3, was cancelled.
Of course, there’s still a lot of excitement on who will win Game of The Year so it still lives up to its name. What’s important to remember is that this night is meant to be fun. Trailers are teasers more built to create excitement over what’s coming rather than showing us any real gameplay. This is a celebration of games and the hard work that goes into them. So let’s look back at some of the best trailers and moments that occurred during the show itself.
Game of The Year: The Last of Us Part 2
π THE LAST OF US PART II IS GAME OF THE YEAR!! π Congratulations @Naughty_Dog on an INCREDIBLE night at #TheGameAwards! #TheLastOfUsPartII pic.twitter.com/OUGKbniY6t
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
There was a little bit of controversy with this one as many people were fans of Ghosts of Tsushima and Hades, but The Last of Us Part 2 won multiple awards throughout the night and was the clear favorite game going in. Critically acclaimed and well enjoyed by many, it’s one of those games that many will use as an example of how games should be taken more seriously as an art based medium. To say any more would be going into spoiler territory, but you should go play The Last of Us, or Hades, or Ghosts of Tsushima, or Animal Crossing! All the games nominated were great and worth your time.
The Return Of Mass Effect
Last World Premiere of the night!! The new @MassEffect looks AMAZING. @Bioware #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/API9wWZ36o
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
The definition of a teaser, this trailer showed us only one thing. “Mass Effect will return.” and despite that, it was one of the most exciting moments of the entire night. Mass Effect as a franchise felt like it was never going to come back after the disaster that was Mass Effect: Andromeda. While we have no idea how long it’s going to be before another game in the series is released, or if it manages to make it through development, we can be excited for the future of the franchise again. That’s something many Mass Effect fans haven’t had for a long time.
Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
New main? π€ World Premiere of a brand new character, Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros Ultimate by @NintendoAmerica!! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/lfoeWsHNMv
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
The Game Awards led off with a bang by unveiling the next character for Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Despite originally being a crossover of Nintendo franchises the title has grown beyond that with the most recent iterations. Games that aren’t known for being on Nintendo consoles have been joining the roster ever since Final Fantasy 7‘s Cloud broke that barrier on Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
Well, this year saw the release of Final Fantasy 7 remake, and maybe Nintendo saw that as a sign to dip back into that franchise to bring in another extremely popular character. Sephiroth, the main antagonist of Final Fantasy 7 is making his debut in Smash Bros. and while this may have been an odd choice in the past it is oddly fitting these days. With Super Smash Bros. going from a Nintendo crossover to a video game crossover in general it really does fit even if an image of what appeared to be Sephiroth impaling Mario, in that trailer, is unintentionally one of the funniest pictures ever.
New Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark!! @xbox dropping the highly anticipated World Premiere at #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/7TPwFjOlgk
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
Perfect Dark is one of the original console first-person shooters. It was made by Rare for the Nintendo 64, and for some fans of that era, it’s an even better game than the legendary Goldeneye. Long thought to be a dead franchise it looks like we’re finally seeing a return. FPS games have changed a lot over the years. Let’s see if they’re up for the challenge of modernizing it.
Back4Blood
π§ββοΈ Look out for zombies π§ββοΈ in this World Premiere of @back4blood from @TurtleRock! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/XPxgTKOFMG
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
You know what rules? Left 4 Dead. You know what doesn’t rule? The overabundance of zombie games we’ve been getting for over a decade now. So when you first see the trailer for Back4Blood your first indication might be to zone out and wait until it ends. That is until you realize it’s actually a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead, a franchise we haven’t gotten a new game in since 2009.
This looks exactly like a modern day version of Left 4 Dead which is really all we wanted. With so many zombie games it can be so easy to forget the fun of just mowing down an army of zombies with friends. Many of the devs working on this worked on Left 4 Dead all those years ago so if anyone remembers the spirit of those games it will be them.
Dragon Age
Here it is!!! The new DRAGON AGE World Premiere by @Bioware! #TheGameAwards! pic.twitter.com/XIn19vn0VF
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
Probably one of the worst kept secrets in games, a new Dragon Age has finally been unveiled. We last got one of these with Inquisition in 2014, but ever since then the franchise has laid dormant. During that time their developer, Bioware, has not exactly been setting the world on fire with their releases. Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem were both flops from the once legendary developer. With this being one of their major franchise they can’t afford for it to fail.
The trailer itself is cool and exciting, but its doesn’t really reveal that much. We’ll know more as time goes on, but it’s a good teaser to get us excited.
The Callisto Protocol
World Premiere of The Callisto Protocol from @sd_studios! Need it now!! #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/xorEFoPiCH
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
Fans of Dead Space should be excited for this one. A handful of the original developers have gotten together to release a spiritual successor to that franchise. While Dead Space 2 and 3 got a little too action focused for many fans liking, this one is being touted by developers as an attempt to make one of the scariest games ever made. Let’s see if they can hit on that promise.
Ark 2 With Vin Diesel
World Premiere of ARK II! A brutal new world of primitive survival! Continue @survivetheark's story of humankind's evolution in this next-generation sandbox survival experience! π¦ #ARK2 #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/W8iHpLkOWf
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
Yes, you read that correctly. Not only are they making a sequel to Ark, but it’s featuring Vin Diesel. If the trailer is anything to go by then he may have a prominent role in this one — Either him or the child.
The trailer is exciting, lots of action, and at one point Vin Diesel is taking on a T-Rex head on. It’s absolutely absurd, but one of the best trailers during the entirety of The Game Awards just because of how much it stood out.
Among Us Time Traveling
π¨ DISCUSSπ¨ @AmongUsGame wins for Best Multiplayer Game at #TheGameAwards!!! Congratulations!! pic.twitter.com/QKbMub5kfO
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 11, 2020
This was an odd choice. Among Us is absolutely one of the best games of this year and is an incredibly fun time. The problem? Among Us came out in 2018 and not 2020. This didn’t stop it from winning the best Multiplayer and Best Mobile Game of The Year awards. This feels like it’s bending the rules a bit to get a popular game into the awards, but the genuine excitement of the developers receiving their awards more than makes up for it.